


Observations

by psychobabblers



Category: DCU, Justice League (2017)
Genre: Bruce's awkwardness, Humor, M/M, for once there's no angst!, possibly crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 04:23:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12999777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychobabblers/pseuds/psychobabblers
Summary: For a guy who brought him back to life against the wishes of pretty much everyone, Bruce seems to get on great with everyone but him. Clark is determined to find out what his problem is. (Spoiler alert: someone has a crush.)





	Observations

Overall, Clark had to say it was great being alive again. He liked his new teammates (hadn’t even realized that he’d joined, but he just went along), saw years fall off Ma’s face when she saw him again, and even though his relationship with Lois had fizzled out after a few months of his return, he was busy enough working with his new aforementioned team that it didn’t bother him as much as it could have.

There was just one thing wrong with his second chance, and it was that Bruce didn’t seem to like him that much, especially for a guy who’d brought him back from the dead against the wishes of pretty much everyone.

It was just an inkling at first, that he largely ignored until one day he was watching Barry laugh with Bruce - well Bruce was kinda stone faced but Clark could tell he was amused - that he realized Bruce was always stiff and awkward with _Clark_. He’d assumed that it was just how Bruce was, just as he knew Victor was stoic and Arthur was rowdy and Diana was badass and Barry was talkative. And Bruce was stiff and awkward.

Oh sure, when they worked together it was fine, but in a more casual situation and just the two of them, it was like those two people in a group who were fine while everyone else was there but we’re reduced to awkward silences when they were alone. And then he couldn’t stop noticing how much more easily the rest of the team got along with Bruce than he did.

He was going to have to do some sleuthing.

_**\-- Victor --**  
_

Whenever Bruce came around to the makeshift headquarters of the Justice League, he inevitably became holed up somewhere with Victor, doing “nerd stuff”, as Arthur put it.

They seemed to be making or improving schematics for Batman’s array of machines, or upgrading the security of the Batcave or Justice League headquarters, or any number of things that Clark didn’t bother to follow. Neither of them spoke much when they worked together which obviously suited both of them fine.

But every once in awhile Clark might see one of them say something quietly to the other to make him crack a smile.

It was disconcerting to say the least, especially since both of them rarely smiled. Victor was starting to ease up a bit more but Bruce seemed to always wear the same expression with or without the mask. Or maybe it was just around him.

_**\-- Arthur --**  
_

“How is your son?” Arthur said, clapping Bruce on the shoulder. Clark just barely avoided walking into the doorway just then, and it might’ve been his imagination but he thought Bruce’s eyes narrowed a fraction. Behind Bruce’s head, Diana looked like she was stifling laughter.

“He’s fine,” Bruce said, curtly, but Arthur just beamed as if Bruce had given him a detailed answer.

“Tell him that—”

“Tell him yourself,” Bruce said, rolling his eyes just a fraction.

“Fine,” Arthur said good-naturedly. “I’ll drop by the Manor next week.”

“I hope you have not forgotten that we were going to spar,” Diana said.

“I think I’ll swing by as well,” Victor said. “I wanted to take a look at the new mech you told me about.”

“Party at Batman’s place!” Flash shouted. “I’m totally going! Your house is so cool.”

Everyone looked at Clark. “I guess I’m going too,” he said, smiling.

Bruce looked aggravated. “I don’t remember deciding to throw a party.”

“No, you totally did,” Barry said. “Last time we were there I asked if we could have like, a Justice League sleepover and you said ‘yeah sure, whatever, Barry.’ “ He made air quotes and dropped his voice in a dramatic imitation of Bruce’s grouchy grumble.

Everyone laughed and Bruce sighed a little but Clark saw the smile.

“Just make sure Dick is there as well,” Arthur said. “I promised to destroy him in Mario Cart last time and I don’t want to go back on that promise.”

“Any other notes you need me to convey while I’m at it?” Bruce said, but sarcasm rolled off Arthur like water did.

“I also need you to subtly remind Alfred that my favorite cookies are those things with the jam in them.”

“Pretty sure Alfred knows all of your favorite things by heart now,” Bruce said wearily.

Arthur beamed. “Excellent!” he said, clapping Bruce on the shoulder.

“Oh, Arthur,” Bruce said before he could walk away. “I’ve been meaning to bring this up, but what do you think about doing some basic training for the team in fighting underwater? We should all be prepared for anything.”

“Sure thing,” Arthur said. “I always enjoy kicking your ass.” He smiled with all his teeth.

Bruce shrugged, unconcerned. “Thanks. I’ll fit it into the training schedule then.” Clark saw Victor and Barry exchange looks of despair.

_**\-- Diana --** _

Well… Clark tried not to think about Bruce and Diana too much.

He also tried not to think too hard about why that was so.

_**\-- Barry --** _

“Batman isn’t available, he’s in Korea,” Diana announced once when Bruce failed to answer a summons to deal with the super villain of the day.

Clark thought nothing of it since Bruce was always off somewhere on business for his company or as Batman, until he overheard Barry complaining to Victor about it after the battle.

“Man, I can’t believe he went to Korea and didn’t tell me,” Barry was saying as he pulled off his gloves. Clark focused in on the conversation while carrying on a review of strategy with Diana and Arthur.

“Why?” Victor asked, only half-interested. He was idly running diagnostics on himself.

“Come on, I've only been a fan of Black Pink since forever! And I’ve only talked to him about it like, a million times!”

Clark hoped his startlement at the idea of Bruce and Barry discussing K-pop wasn’t noticeable, but Victor didn’t seem surprised at all. He seemed more resigned than anything.

“Earth to Clark,” Arthur said.

“Did you know Bruce listened to K-pop?” Clark asked before he could stop himself.

Arthur gave him a strange look. “I have no idea what K-pop is,” he said, in a tone that said he didn’t care if he never found out.

“I’m not sure I would call him a fan, but we did go to a concert with Barry once,” Diana said, amused.

“And it was _amazing_ ohmygod,” Barry said, appearing next to them for a flash before zipping back to sit next to Victor.

“Did he like it?” Clark asked, mind still reeling at the idea that Bruce, Diana, and Barry had all gone to a K-pop concert together. “Bruce, I mean.”

“I suppose,” Diana said. “As much as Bruce likes anything. Why don’t you ask him yourself when he gets back?” She was smirking at him. He was a little unsettled. Diana smirking at someone meant someone was about to get beaten up or that she knew something you didn’t.

“It just feels weird to ask him about that,” he found himself saying. “I mean, I barely even know the guy. I want to though. How come everyone knows these things about him but I don’t?” Dimly he was aware that he was sounding a little petulant but plowed on anyway.

“I thought that he was the one who couldn’t wait to have me back. And now I can’t even remember the last time he looked me in the eye. And I would definitely remember those eyes,” he said. Barry and Victor had paused their conversation on the other side of the room and were inching closer. “He just has really unique features, you know? Unique in an extremely nice way, I mean. Even though I can only see the lower half of his face when he’s wearing that damn cowl. And am I the only one feels that he only interacts with me to lecture me? Although it’s not that bad, especially when he’s using his Batman voice,” he said. “It kinda makes you wanna stand up straighter.”

“No you are not the only one to notice. You two obviously have a lot to discuss,” Diana said, still smirking.

“Well there’s definitely _something_ standing up,” Barry whispered to Victor.

“Is Arthur okay? He looks like he’s choking,” Clark said.

Arthur had been sitting where he was, frozen, the entire time Clark had been speaking, but he’d apparently had had enough because he exploded with laughter at that. Barry and Victor were wearing identical grins.

Clark followed their gaze and leapt up with a curse. “Stop leaving this everywhere, Diana!” he groaned.

“I just placed it next to me. It’s not my fault if you don’t look where you’re leaning,” she said, not sounding sorry at all. She took the golden rope and started coiling it up.

Clark could feel his ears turning red so he decided to take a page out of Bruce’s book, gather up his cape and walk away with most of his dignity intact.

*

When Bruce came back, he brought Barry a signed photo of himself with Black Pink. One of the women in the photo had her arm slung over Bruce’s shoulder while he held up his hand in a peace sign. It read, “Hope to see you next time, Barry!” surrounded by hastily scrawled hearts.

Barry nearly fainted with joy.

“Anything for me?” Clark said. If he was going to have to endure teasing from his teammates he might as well own it.

Bruce looked startled. “Uh, no. Did you… want anything?”

 _You_. The thought came so quickly and powerfully to Clark that he was afraid he hadn’t quite managed to hide it from Bruce.

There was a quiet cough behind them and Clark realized they’d been staring at each other for almost a full minute. He took a hasty step backwards and Bruce mirrored him.

“I’ll get you something next time,” Bruce muttered, and fled.

If Arthur laughed any harder he would start losing brain cells from the lack of oxygen, Clark thought sullenly. And Superman might just happen not to notice.

_**\-- Bruce --** _

Clark was on assignment in Gotham and in the midst of an attempted mugging when he ran into Batman.

“Please don’t hurt me!” he said, playing it up because he could hear Bruce’s familiar heartbeat nearby. He cowered when they laughed menacingly and advanced forward with their guns. “I don’t even have anything!”

“Yeah, yeah,” one of the thugs said. “Quit yer whining. Just hand over your wallet and phone.”

“But it has all my concert photos on it,” Clark complained.

The thugs gave each other looks that plainly said _can you believe this guy._

“This is what the cloud is for,” Batman growled from the shadows and the thugs turned pale. Interesting. Petty criminals tended to just surrender with resignation when Clark appeared. They never quaked in their boots looking like they were about to piss themselves.

Batman tied them up quickly and efficiently and then contacted the police department to pick them up. Then he stalked up to Clark with his lecture face on.

“My _hero_ ,” Clark said, widening his eyes and looking up at him. He was trying hard not to laugh and Bruce was trying hard not to roll his eyes. And then Batman smiled (one of the tied up thugs whimpered) and quick as a flash he’d grabbed Clark about the waist and swung up into the night before he could protest. Later, when the police arrived to collect the thugs, Clark heard them babbling about how Batman had kidnapped a civilian.

Batman deposited him on a rooftop. “You shouldn’t walk alone in the street at night,” and Clark never in his wildest fantasies could have ever imagined Bruce’s voice like this, like rough silk. He lunged up and kissed him before he could second-guess himself, before Batman could vanish into the shadows. He tasted like starlight, his stubble that would have been scratchy if he’d been human but instead just turned him on. And then it got _better_ because after an initial moment when Bruce froze, he growled into Clark’s mouth and spun them around to slam him into the wall, hard enough to bruise if only he could bruise.

Clark could feel the adrenaline rush through him, leaving him heady with lust and he wanted to shove back, but he was enjoying this too much, being awkward human Clark Kent kissing the foreboding Dark Knight. He tilted his head back to let Bruce bite at his neck, and Bruce groaned aloud at the sight.

Absentmindedly, he realized a gloved hand was reaching down to pull him free from his pants and he gasped with relief. And then he had to exercise some serious willpower not to come right that second, because Bruce was going down to his knees to wrap his lips around Clark’s cock and holy shit Batman was blowing him on a rooftop. He came embarrassingly quickly after that thought, and Bruce just swallowed and smirked and Clark’s brain felt like it had flatlined from how _good_ it was feeling.

Batman backed away, even though he had to be painfully hard under that armor by now. Was he seriously going to just--

“Stay safe out there,” Batman rasped before vanishing into the shadows, leaving Clark’s brain to reboot itself, eventually, and tuck himself in and fly back to his hotel in a haze of pleasure and embarrassment.

But mostly pleasure. He already wanted more.

**Author's Note:**

> I think this is the first non-angsty thing I've written in weeks xD Hope you enjoyed as much as I enjoyed writing it!


End file.
